UConn victory a winner for local bar, winning bracketeers

Shabazz Napier signals that he has won two national championships. (STEPHEN DUNN / Hartford Courant)

Vikki Ortiz HealyTribune reporter

As thousands of University of Connecticut basketball fans revel in last night's victory over Kentucky in the NCAA championship game, another 27,203 people are celebrating their own win: Correctly picking the champion on ESPN.com.

And locally, a sports bar in downtown Chicago is also celebrating after completing the season as the unofficial go-to spot for area UConn fans.

"As the tournament went in, it really became obvious that there were more UConn fans than we anticipated," said Tony Bisciglia, general manager at Jake Melnick's Corner Tap, 41 E. Superior St., which hosted multiple private gatherings thrown by UConn alumni groups in recent weeks, including Monday night.

"It was definitely a pleasant surprise for us. They were really a great group of people," Bisciglia said.

Of 11 million brackets completed in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, just 1.3 percent picked UConn to make it to the title game, and .03 percent predicted the team would win it all, according to the website.

The percentage who correctly predicted UConn winning the title is by far the lowest percentage rate in recent years, Matthew Berry, ESPN's Senior Fantasy Analyst tweeted after the win.

On the other hand, the number of people who got the entire Final Four correct (612) was much higher than last year, when just 47 brackets guessed the remaining four teams correctly, the website said.

Depressed Kentucky fans can take comfort in this: 3.3. percent of those who filled out brackets on ESPN.com believed the Wildcats would make it to the Final Four. Another 2.1 thought they'd reach the title game, and 1.1 percent thought they'd win it all.